


Red Thread

by Subconscious_Melody



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, BlackIce Week, Fluff, M/M, Oneshot, Red String of Fate, fluff?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-01
Updated: 2014-06-01
Packaged: 2018-02-03 01:35:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1726376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Subconscious_Melody/pseuds/Subconscious_Melody
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Originally made for BlackIce Week 2014 back in February. Just got internet back now so I can finally post this! Prompt was Wednesday's Free/AU Day.</p>
<p>***</p>
<p>Jack Frost and Pitch Black are friends. Only, Jack likes him more than friends. But he's content to keep their friendship as is so nothing is ruined between the two of them. However, when something out of the blue happens, will he have to courage to say something? Or will he continue to stay silent?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Red Thread

“Hey Frost.”

Jackson Overland looked up quickly from his locker. Standing before him, towering over him, stood Kozmotis Pitchiner.

“Koz! What’s up?” Jack grinned. He pushed part of the white locks out of his face. A dare almost long forgotten by now, the reminder of it was left behind after Jack had taken to the dyed color of his hair. He continued to keep it its color. At the nickname, Kozmotis gave a look but continued on regardless.

“Just wanted to say I couldn’t make it to stay behind after school. I have to pick up Emily once she’s done with school,” Kozmotis leaned up against some of the adjacent lockers. “Sandy’s still going to be there though. Don’t skip out by accident again,” he finished with a small smirk.

“That was once!” Jack playfully punched his friend’s shoulder. “One time! Anyways, I get you. No worries! I’ll see you tomorrow then!” Kozmotis gave a nod and passed on by Jack without another word. Jack stared after for a bit, watching his dark-clad friend walk down the hallway. Once he was out of sight, Jack gave out a loud sigh and brushed his fingers through his hair. Grabbing his things, he slammed the locker shut and walked out, taking a different route than Kozmotis had.

Within minutes, Jack had made his way out of the school.

“Sandy!” Jack gave a wave. Waiting at the base of the school steps stood Sanderson Mansnoozie, dubbed ‘Sandy’ by the two others of the trio after the agreement that ‘Sanderson’ was too long of a name for such a small person. And indeed, Sandy was small. After Jack made his way to his other friend’s side, it was seen that Sandy barely stood as tall as Jack’s shoulders. Sandy’s hands moved in a blur.

_Took you long enough! I thought you forgot again!_

He finished the statement by sticking his tongue out at his pale friend. After a childhood accident, Sandy spoke through sign language, leaving him with not many who could speak with him and understand him. Luckily, there were at least two who could.

“Sorry! Sorry!” Jack chuckled. “Seriously. What is with you two and the constant reminders? That was only one time! Anyways,” he continued, “I had to stay after for North’s class. Says that I need to stop doodling on everything and pay attention more and do my work more and blah, blah, blah.”

_Daydreaming about a certain someone again?_

“Was not!” At Sandy’s look however, Jack faulted. “… Okay maybe a little. I just… I can’t help it. He’s all I can think about lately. I almost hate it. I just want these feelings to go away. It’s never gonna happen…”

Sandy sighed and signed.  _You need to be more hopeful about things. You’ll never know._

Jack gave a rueful grin. “Never know? He’s into blond hair, blue eyes. Said so himself. And I’m pretty positive he doesn’t… Doesn’t swing that way…” Jack shook his head. “Besides, we’re best friends. If this didn’t work out, it could all get awkward and things wouldn’t be the same. I couldn’t live with that. It’s a lot better to just pretend this doesn’t exist and live on like normal!” He ended with a grin.

  _Guess I can’t really tell you how to love._ Sandy signed to Jack.  _It’s all your choice. I really think you should give yourself more props. Daydreams can become something more sometimes than just dreams, you know._

“Yeah, I know. But really. Enough of this. I bet I can beat you to park again!” Jack challenged with a laugh. He took off with leap, leaving Sandy behind at the base of the steps. Sandy gave a small shake of his head and just a small grin, but was soon racing after his friend.

* * *

 

“Hey I’m home!”

Jack raced up the stairs, two at a time until he reached his room. He burst through the doors and threw his bag off at the base of the bed. Flopping onto the bed, he laid there for a few moments staring at the ceiling. The room was filled only with the sound of the radio playing some new hit pop song. Finally Jack sat and reached for his bag. Digging through it, he found the paper from his history class.

There, on the corner of the page above the work was a drawing mostly in black pen, the drawing North had caught him doing instead of his work. Two quickly drawn hands were sketched in, holding onto a curving line drawn in with red pen. Jack stared at the paper, zoning out quickly into his own thoughts.

_Hey._

_You’ve done so much for me._

_This has been so much fun!_

_What would I do without you?_

_C’mon I have another idea!_

_Do you promise?_

_We have to do this again!_

_I promise…_

Jack was pulled out of his thoughts by a knock on his door. Stuffing the paper under his pillow, he called out a hurried “Come in!”

His sister, Emma, peeked her head into his room. “Hey Mom’s been calling you for dinner! Where you been?”

“Just lost in my own thoughts again,” Jack replied with a laugh. “So what’s for dinner?”

“Pasta! And garlic bread!”

Jack leapt off his bead. “Alright! I’m in!” He fled the room and hurried to go east dinner with his mom and sister.

* * *

 

After dinner, Jack made his way back to his room to work on homework at his desk. But ten minutes in and Jack couldn’t finish even his second problem. His mind kept wandering back to his conversation with Sandy that afternoon, back to everything that was going through his head. He shook his head once again, determined to finish his work. But one glance at his paper showed doodles and drawings of snowflakes, ferns, and a heart or two all around the border of his paper.

He groaned, slamming his head on the desk. “This is never gonna get done…” He pushed away from the desk, wandering back to his bed. All the day’s events flashed through his head. The dissection in science, laughing at Kozmotis making the frog dance, eating lunch with Kozmotis and Sandy, hearing Kozmotis laugh, the way he smirked, his golden eyes…

Jack sat up, rubbing his forehead. “No, no, no you can’t think like that. It’s never gonna happen, there’s no use dwelling on it. Just ignore it and move on.” He took deep breaths, attempting to clear his mind of all this thoughts and trying to keep the tears at bay that threatened to reveal his true feelings on the matter. He sighed, feeling more exhausted than before. He glanced again at the desk, at the lamp that illuminated the unfinished work before falling back down on the bed. He queued into what the radio was playing to calm himself down.

_Being me can only mean being scared to breathe…_

“ _If you leave then I’ll be afraid of everything…_ ” Jack mouthed along. “ _That makes me anxious, gives me patience, calms me down, lets me face this, let me sleep… And when I wake up… Let me be…_ ” The tears slipped from his eyes. He couldn’t hold them back anymore. He scrambled to shut the radio off and curled up on his bed, crying silently. He had to face the facts.

He really was in love with Kozmotis.

* * *

  _Where have you been? You weren’t at first period._

 “Oh you know,” Jack grinned as he slipped besides to the right of Sandy at lunch. “Running marathons, taming tigers, going sky diving. The usual.” Sandy raised an eyebrow and grinned. “Okay, okay, I overslept and had to rush everything. Again.” The two were seated at a table, enjoying the delicious taste of slightly overcooked burgers provided by the cafeteria. After the night’s events, Jack had woken up late, rushed to get something done on his work, and begged his mom for a ride to school before she left for work.

_Oh? So what are you working on? It’s obviously not homework or classwork._

“No it isn’t, smartass. Just another drawing,” Sandy silently chuckled as he looked on. Jack had spent most of the morning on it after gaining inspiration on the drive to school. For every bad, there’s got to be a good. Jack was willing to wake up late again if it gave him the inspiration for a picture.

“Looks like something interesting is going on. What are you two looking at?”

Jack jumped, not realizing that Kozmotis had made his way over to the table. “Hey Koz. Sandy wanted to know what I was working on.”

“If you’re going to call me something, I’d prefer Pitch, you know. I’ve told you that,” Kozmotis said. “And if I had to guess, it’s not schoolwork.”

“Yes, I’m a slacker, I get it,” Jack chuckled. “And fine. I’m just drawing another picture.” The picture was of two people standing on a snowy hill, drawn similarly to a chibi style and bundled up in coats and scarves. Their back was turned to the looker, so it was impossible to tell what they looked like or what their gender even was. They were overlooking a sea of white valleys and connecting the two of them was a red string, with each person holding one end.

Pitch looked on curiously. “What’s the significance of this red string they have?”

“It’s something called the red thread of fate,” Jack explained. “If there are two people who are destined to meet or be together, people say that they’re connected by a red thread of fate. It cannot be cut or broken, by any person or any event,” he finished by looking up at the lanky boy looking down.

“And you believe in this?”

“It depends the mood I’m in,” Jack chuckled. He turned back to the picture and started to sketch in a tree off to the side.

“How about now then?”

Jack nearly dropped his pencil. He looked up at Pitch, whose golden eyes were unreadable like usual. He turned back to the picture, feeling his stomach jump and flip around. “Yeah, I do right now.” He smiled to himself. Only the scratching of the pencil and the drone of the lunchroom murmur was heard. Then Pitch sat himself down to the right of Jack and proceeded to eat his lunch.

Sandy, who only watched the previous conversation happen, stared at the two boys who were both off in their own world. He shook his head, but with a soft smile, and settled back down to finish his own lunch. But only minutes went by before the bell rang and each of them grabbed their things, cleared their trays, and bid each other a goodbye before heading off to their own class.

* * *

 “I’m here guys!”

Jack raced down the steps outside of school. There below waited Sandy and Pitch. “Had to grab what I missed first period.”

"Did you oversleep again?" Pitch raised an eyebrow.

Jack stopped at the bottom. “… Maybe. That’s beside the point. What are we doing today? I’m ready for fun!”

The trio started walking down the path leading from the school when Sandy suddenly halted. He looked back at the school and quickly started to sign.

_You two go on ahead! I just remembered I needed to stay after! I’ll be back!_

"Uhh Sandy?" Jack raised a hand but Sandy was already gone, running back into the school with his bag in tow. The duo stood there for a second until the slamming of the school doors jolted through the silence. Neither of them said a word for a moment.

"So… What were we going to do again?" Jack shuffled his feet in place.

"Well Sandy and I were thinking about hitting the arcade. He was looking forward to it. I’m not sure if we should continue on though. I can’t say if he’ll make it back in time…" Pitch trailed off.

Jack shrugged. “Let’s just walk. Maybe he’ll catch up.”

The two started off down the street. Every once in a while Jack would glance over to his dark haired friend, but never said a word. He was content just watching for once.

"Why do you keep glancing over at me?"

Jack glanced over once more. Pitch wasn’t even looking at him.

"What? I’m not. I’m just checking to see if Sandy’s catching up or not," Jack quickly reasoned. "Don’t wanna head to the arcade without him if he’s nearby."

"Mhm. Alright."

The silence was almost unbearable to Jack. He wanted to glance over again but wasn’t willing to get caught again. So he focused his thoughts on the arcade; on the games they’d play, having fun with everyone, beating Pitch at air hockey again, battling each other on the classic brawler, having their hands accidentally touch…

Jack slapped his cheeks. No thinking like that!

"Are you alright?"

Jack had almost forgotten they were walking to the arcade in the first place. He looked over at Pitch.

"Oh yeah! Perfectly fine!" Jack grinned. "Just excited for the arcade."

"Well, we’re here. Were you lost in your thoughts again?" Pitch smirked as he pointed to the arcade entrance only feet away. Jack wanted to die. It was clear they had been at the entrance for a few minutes already, but Jack hadn’t even noticed.

"Oh we are? Aha, didn’t even see…" Jack nervously chuckled as he scratched the back of his head.

Pitch raised an eyebrow. “Well I’m not seeing Sandy anywhere. Perhaps we should just reschedule this to another day… Perhaps tomorrow.”

"Yeah it wouldn’t be very fair to him huh? Tomorrow sounds pretty good though, ahaha…" Jack slipped his hands into his pocket and looked down at his feet.

"Yeah I think that’d be the best choice. You don’t seem to be up to par yourself either. We can all hang tomorrow. It’s no problem," Pitch finished.

Jack looked up. “Umm, yeah I think so. I mean, it’s cool to me.” Mentally, he was punching himself. Why couldn’t he function?

Pitch nodded. “Alright. Then I’ll see you tomorrow.” He started to walk away from the arcade, leaving Jack behind.

"Yeah I’ll see you!" Jack waved. He watched for a moment before turning around and walking away.

* * *

 “Stupid, stupid, stupid!” Jack repeated this mantra as he climbed the stair to his room. He couldn’t believe he messed the afternoon up that badly. Even without Sandy, they still could’ve hung out. But no, he had to go and weird it up. Why?

“Stupid!” With a final yell, he slammed his bag onto the ground and flopped onto his bed. He covered his eyes with his arm and laid there for a few minutes. He still couldn’t believe it…

“Hey what’s with the elephant herd stomping up here?” Jack looked up at that. In the doorway stood Emma, hands on her hips.

“Nothing,” Jack attempted a grin. “Just dropped my bag, that’s all. It’s heavy.”

She frowned. “Uh huh. You expect me to believe that? Something’s up. I wanna know.” Jack’s grin slowly melted off his face.

“You’re too observant for an eleven year old. You know that?” he chuckled humorlessly. “But it’s nothing, really. I can deal with it.”

Her hands moved down to her side. “Maybe I can help though. What’s going on? … Oh is it a girl problem?”

Jack looked everywhere but her. He couldn’t find the words to speak for a minute. “… Er, well kinda. It is. Sorta. In a way…”

“Tell me! Tell me!” Emma clamored over to hop on his bed. “Details!”

“I though you just wanted help me,” he laughed. “Well… I know this person. And we’re best friends. I couldn’t imagine what I’d do without them. But you see, I’m not sure when this happened, but I… I sorta fell in love with them. But I don’t want to risk our friendship to tell them the truth. I don’t know what I’d do without them, or what I’d do if it ever got weird. So I figured, ‘Hey just play it cool. The feelings will go away eventually. They probably don’t like me that way anyways.’ But the feelings won’t go away. I don’t know what to do…” Jack finally finished. He rubbed his forehead, a bit nervous at revealing so much.

Emma didn’t say anything at first. “So…” she finally started after a moment. “Do they really mean that much to you?” Jack nodded. “Then I say go for it. If the bond between you two is really that strong, a bad confession won’t break it. You can’t really lose. If they do like you, good for you! If not, then things will go back to normal.”

“If only things were that simple…” Jack groaned. “Nerves will kill a man, I tell you! But, thanks. Thanks for listening at least. When’d you get so smart, miss? Have you been hanging with Sandy?”

Emma laughed. “I’ve always been smart. I just seem smarter now because you’re acting dumb.”

Jack grabbed hold of her and started to tickle her, causing her to cry out. “Just don’t grow up anymore, okay?”

“Okay!” she laughed. “Okay I won’t! Just stop!” The two continued on for a bit longer, basking in the light, happy mood in the room. All tension was forgotten in the moment.

* * *

 The halls were crowded as Jack weaved his way through. For once, he was early and ready for the day. He travelled past the people, aiming to get to his locker to gather his materials for the day. A tug at his elbow caught his attention, though. Looking a bit down, Jack saw Sandy looking back up at him.

_It is so hard to get people’s attention these days!_

Jack laughed as Sandy signed. “Well perhaps if you were taller, it’d be easier to see you!” Sandy stuck his tongue out as the two moved through the people loitering around. They chattered back and forth as they journeyed to Jack’s locker, the conversation only stopping to give Sandy time to sign. Before they knew it, they had made it to their destination.

Once Jack opened his locker, he noticed something amiss. Directly in front of him sat a white box, about the size of his fist.

“Uhh, yeah that’s not mine… I wonder what it is…” Jack murmured as he gently took the box. Giving it a shake, he heard nothing inside. Sandy stood by, motioning his hands to open the box. He started to sign.

_It could be something interesting!_

“I don’t think so… Sounds like nothing’s inside,” Jack spoke. Regardless, he opened the box. Inside sat a long skinny red ribbon, similar to the kind used to wrap gifts. Below it was a card with writing on it. Pulling it out, Jack read it aloud.

“ _Red thread of fate can stand all time, showing me what can be mine,_ ” Jack said. “ _A bow on the wrist can do its part, for nothing can break this thread apart._ Wow…” Jack pulled the ribbon out, staring at the long piece now in his hand. He turned to Sandy. “What should I do?”

Sandy seemed to ponder for a moment before he started to sign.  _I think you should do it._

“What? You can’t be serious!” Jack cried. “I mean, who sent this? What do they mean? Won’t I look weird with a bow on my wrist all day?” Sandy puffed out his cheeks and started to move his hands up, but quickly shook his hand and whipped out his phone. He rapidly started to type away. Jack tried to get his attention but Sandy quickly shushed him with a finger. After a moment, Sandy handed his phone to Jack.

_I really don’t think you’d lose much doing this. It seems as though this is something serious to someone else. I think that the best thing for you to do is to wear it. It can’t really hurt you. The worse thing that’ll happen is that you’ll have a ribbon on your wrist all day for no reason. But hopefully someone will come up and explain everything._

“… I guess so,” Jack finally replied. “You do make a good point. You willing to tie it on my hand then?” Sandy cheerfully tied a bow onto Jack’s left wrist with the ribbon. At that moment the bell rang and the hallway began to empty of all its people.

“Let’s see what happens then.” Jack quickly grabbed his books for the morning classes, and the two of them headed off.

* * *

  _Anything yet?_

“No, not yet. Just a couple of weird looks and some questions. That’s all,” Jack laughed. Sandy pouted and went back to his lunch. Jack laughed at this.

“Wow, you’re way more into this than I thought. It’s a bit more than a game, you know.” The two ate their lunch of pizza, pausing only to talk about classes and such as they waited for the third occupant of their group to arrive. Soon enough, their tall friend walked over to the table.

“Hey Koz. How’s-” Jack stopped. There, tied on Pitch’s right wrist, was a red bow similar to his. He didn’t say a word. He only watched at Pitch got settled down and set his tray on the table.

“I thought I said that I-” Pitch stopped mid-sentence. His eyes widened ever so slightly in surprise. Jack immediately knew he saw the same ribbon tied on his own wrist. Silence settled over the table. Sandy watched on, eyes wide and mouth slightly open.

Pitch cleared his throat. “Interesting wrist wear.”

“Yeah… You too…” Jack trailed off. He shifted his arms, slightly hiding the ribbon behind his right arm. “I… I, um, found it in my locker. Along with a note…”

“As did I…” He cleared his throat again. Tension settled softly over the table, as nobody knew what to say. Jack quickly stuffed a bite of pizza into his mouth, to avoid having to speak. Pitch quickly followed suit, and the table fell into silence again. Unsure of what to do, Sandy followed their lead and the lunch passed by without any other word. As soon as the bell rang, each of them quickly grabbed their things and left the cafeteria as soon as possible.

* * *

 “What the hell? What is going on?” Jack almost slammed his head into his locker, had it not been prevented by Sandy. “Why does Pitch have a matching ribbon? Why?” Sandy shrugged, but was quick to start signing.

_Perhaps he’s the one that left the ribbon in your locker._

“What?” Jack’s heart stopped. That never crossed his mind. “No… No that can’t be right. I mean, I guess it could… It makes sense. But I thought he… There’s no way he could…” His stomach was doing flips, he almost couldn’t breathe, and Jack was sure his face was as red as the ribbon still on his wrist. In a million years, he never thought that Pitch would do something like this. Pitch wasn’t that kind of guy. He was the ‘silent, inactive, would rather just watch things unfold from the shadows’ type of person. To do something so upfront…

“No it couldn’t be him. That’s just not like him. Besides, I’m not going to get my hopes up on this. This just can’t be him,” Jack stated firmly. “And no, I will not confront him on this,” he added as Sandy started to sign in protest. He continued to pull the books he didn’t need from his bag and return them to his locker. He was not getting his hopes up on this. He’d rather remain ignorant than see his hopes dashed before his eyes.

“Let’s just head out at this point. It’s for the best,” Jack said as he turned around. But then he nearly collided with another body. His heart stopped in his chest.

There, in front of him, stood Pitch. He, himself, looked a bit conflicted at being here. Jack swallowed and closed his locker, eliciting a loud slam that echoed. He then noticed that the hallway was clear of everyone else. Sandy, sensing the mood, took a step back and, giving a shooing motion to the two of them, headed towards the door.

You could have heard a pin drop in the hallway at that moment. Both of them were at a loss of words again, and were hoping the other would speak first.

“Jack-”

“Pitch I don’t know what’s with the ribbon,” Jack rushed out. “Sandy told me to wear the one I got and I just went with it. I’m not the one who gave that to you, and I’m not even sure if you gave me this one. That’s okay though if you didn’t. It doesn’t bother me if you don’t like me back. I’m cool with it.”

There was a pause. “…. Don’t like you  _back_? Does that imply…?” When he heard that, Jack nearly died on the spot. He turned around to face the lockers. He couldn’t look him in the eye. He couldn’t  _believe_  he said that. He couldn’t-

Hands on his shoulders turned him back around. Jack looked up into golden eyes. Golden eyes that held a swirl of emotions, golden eyes that shone differently than the usual emotionless eyes he had. Jack inhaled…

… And a pair of lips were on his in an instance. Without any thought, he gently kissed back. The hands on his shoulders moved to wrap him protectively. Days, months, years could have passed and Jack wouldn’t have known, wouldn’t have noticed. All he knew was that feeling of happiness in his stomach and the pressure on his lips.

They pulled away, golden eyes filled with love and blue eyes that shimmered with happiness.

“Pitch… I never knew…” Jack breathed.

“Neither did I… Until that moment at least,” Pitch smiled softly. They pulled apart, but only slightly. It was as if that kiss connected them together more than they could show.

“I… I never thought that you would…” Jack couldn’t even speak. He still couldn’t believe what had happened. He was still waiting to wake up, in his bed or to North telling him to pay attention again.

“I won’t lie, I never thought either,” Pitch said. “It seemed pretty improbably to me.” He gave a quick peck on Jack’s cheek as to defy that statement. “Although, I do have one thing that confuses me…”

Jack looked up at him. “Huh?”

“You didn’t put the box in my locker.” Jack shook his head. “And I never put that box in your locker. So then who did that?” Taken aback, Jack didn’t say a word. They both thought for a moment.

Then it clicked.

“Sandy,” they both said. After another look, they both laughed.

“Guess we gotta go thank him after this,” Jack took a hold of Pitch’s right hand.

Pitch smirked. “Or perhaps we can prank him for doing such a thing to us.”

“No!” Jack laughed. “Otherwise, this wouldn’t be happening right now. We owe him, as worried as I am to say that. I can only imagine what he’d want us to do for him.” The two of them stood there for a moment before Jack looked down.

Pitch, sensing a mood change, tilted Jack’s chin back up. “What? What’s going through that empty head of yours?”

That got a small chuckle from Jack, but he quickly grew somber again. “What if this doesn’t work out between us and it gets all weird? I don’t want that to happen… I couldn’t imagine things if you…” His grip on Pitch’s hand tightened.

Pitch pulled Jack into another hug. “For some reason, I feel as though this will work out just fine. Besides, even if this doesn’t work out, nothing will change. I won’t leave. Remember? I promised you.”

_I promise…_

The memory came back once more, bringing a smile back to Jack’s face. “Yeah. Yeah, you did. And I’m gonna make sure to hold you to that, alright? No backing out on this!” He gave a small push to Pitch’s side.

“I don’t think that’ll be a problem,” Pitch grinned. They pulled away and the two of them walked down the empty hall, hand in hand without any worries or cares.

The red thread still tied on their wrists tangled and swayed with every step they took.


End file.
